Review: The Amazing Spiderman

Does The Amazing Spiderman swing into action, or totally miss the mark? The story begins shortly after the film. Dr. Connors is shown in his prison cell with Spiderman chatting with him from the other side. A viral infection has spread across New York City and the only one who can save it other then Spiderman is The Lizard himself. Teaming up with the Lizard, you'll take down famous super villains such as Scorpion, Rhino, and other surprise villains. Though despite it having a large amount of villains, I found this to be it's weakest point in the story. Now…

Review: The Amazing Spiderman

Review: The Amazing Spiderman

2012-08-05

James

The Amazing Spider-Man Review

Graphics - 7.5

Gameplay - 8

Value - 7

Story - 7

Sound - 7

73

7.3

Good

For what it is, Amazing Spider-Man is a good game. there are faults, but it could've been a lot worse.

Does The Amazing Spiderman swing into action, or totally miss the mark?

The story begins shortly after the film. Dr. Connors is shown in his prison cell with Spiderman chatting with him from the other side. A viral infection has spread across New York City and the only one who can save it other then Spiderman is The Lizard himself. Teaming up with the Lizard, you’ll take down famous super villains such as Scorpion, Rhino, and other surprise villains. Though despite it having a large amount of villains, I found this to be it’s weakest point in the story. Now your probably wondering why that would be, since after all it is all about the villains, but you’ll come to realize that nearly all these villain in the game have no real purpose that one would hope for.

R.I.P. Old Scorpion and Say Hello To The New And Not So Improved Scorpion.

If your a follower of either the comics or any of the animated series then there may be one thing about this title that will somewhat tick you off. The game is set right after The Amazing Spiderman film, so yes there will be spoilers. Like the comics, Dr. Connors becomes obsess with studying reptilian limb regeneration so that one day he may have his arm back. And like the comics, Dr. Connors unlocks this secret, however it came with a terrible side effect. Once a man, now turned into a vicious and deranged Lizard Humanoid. This all sounds familiar to fans because the origin of the Lizard is nearly 100% accurate, but he’s the only villain in the game who is actually created correctly.

As you can see above, this is what The Scorpion looks like. Much like in the comics, Scorpion and Rhino were both born in Oscorps. However, unlike in the comics or shows, both these characters in the game are not born human at all. I’m not fully aware whether or not they were created in the lab from just plain animals or perhaps they were humans at one time, but in the game it is clearly shown that there is absolutely no human nature found in any of the cross-genetic species. They are just plain animals that only have one goal and that is to infect other living things with the virus.

You all might be wondering why I’m ripping so hard on this, but after following Spiderman for years (not PHD expert in it, but I know the basics) I have truly found this to be an extremely disappointing plot in future titles. What of all the enjoyable moments these characters have created in the Spidey series? The Insidious 6? What about the inclusion of Anti-Venom, which Scorpion plays a huge role in. I know that last one isn’t exactly a part of the true series, but things like this have left me with many questions of the direction this is heading in. I guess what I’m saying here is, if your expecting a true Spiderman game where it follows the story to the core, then this is not your game though that doesn’t mean it’s a bad game at all. In fact, despite it’s story differences this is still one of the best Spiderman title that we have gotten in a long time.

The biggest and most enjoyable feature about The Amazing Spiderman is the world that Beenox has created. It’s been a long time since we saw a sandbox Spiderman title and this is one that truly amazes. You start out in your apartment, which is placed in the middle of the city. The city is actually pretty large, though there won’t be any issues with navigation as your supplied with a mini-map and that many landmarks become very familiar as you play on. Beside the main story mission, the world is populated with many different side-missions such as car chases, photo-shoots, bank robberies, race challenges, and many more; and then we have a huge amount of collectibles. The game comes packed with 700 pages from comics that are placed in specific spots around the city. Collecting a specific number of pages will unlock a comic, which can be read from the extra menu. Don’t let the number 700 intimidate you either as it’s more easier to collect them then it sounds. It wouldn’t be a Spiderman game if it didn’t come packed with alternative costumes, which to can be found around the city. All I can say is that there is plenty to do in this city if you take your time and not rush through things.

Plenty of costumes laying around the city, though they don’t offer anything new other then looks.

Gameplay has always been something that has never been right with Spiderman games. We’ve always wanted something similar to that of the actual character and that is what we have here. Combat moves are extremely fluid and when taking on multiple opponents you’ll notice a small notification over Spiderman head, which are signs of an incoming attack. If they are white they are avoidable with the simple push of triangle and if they are red, then you better get out of that area cause chances are you’ll get hit. Otherwise performing different combos, web-shooting an enemy onto a wall, and dodging attacks are all extremely easy to perform. My only issue is that at times the camera can become frustrating as often you may find it not in the correct position that you may want it to be in.

The city is rich and filled with life.

Despite what many are saying, this Spiderman title actually looks great when it comes to graphics. Models of characters all look great and detailed, though some of the texture are blurred out and rough. The city looks great either when it’s day or night and the lighting system used in this game are all well implemented. Players really shouldn’t have expected it to be the best looking game out there, but it definitely does a good job.

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Overall, beside the annoyance I had with the story, we have finally gotten a Spiderman title that is actually worth playing. It’ll have you clock in countless hours with the main story and then have plenty left over with side-missions and collectibles. Voice work is decently done, and the open world is perhaps the most diverse open world Spiderman game yet.